罢丑别听聽is supposed to be above the fray -- a forum for and facilitator of peaceful resolutions or, at the least, the minimization of harm. Yet for the last year, Israel has treated it as an inconvenience at best and adversary at worst.
U.N. peacekeepers are literally in the聽聽in Lebanon and are refusing to leave as it has urged. The Israel Defense Forces forcibly entered a base and have repeatedly fired on their positions,聽. Nearly 230 aid workers for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA)聽聽in Gaza. Earlier this month, Israel declared the U.N.鈥檚 secretary鈥慻eneral, Ant贸nio Guterres, persona non grata. In May, its outgoing ambassador to the U.N. shredded a copy of the charter.
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The relationship has long been fraught.聽聽says it is singled out unfairly by the large number of (non鈥慴inding) general assembly resolutions criticizing it. The country鈥檚 alliance with the U.S. has meant that more consequential security council resolutions have almost always been vetoed by Washington.
Israel has long lobbied against UNRWA, objecting to its recognition of the right of return for Palestinian refugees and their descendants, and is now in the process of banning it as a terrorist organization. The UN聽聽that nine of its 13,000 employees in Gaza might have been involved in the 7 October Hamas attack: disturbing findings that do not negate the value of the agency, on which millions depend for basic supplies and services. The agency鈥檚 head, Philippe Lazzarini,聽聽that the intent is ultimately to undermine the Palestinian aspiration for self-determination.
Only four years ago, when the World Jewish Congress honored Guterres, it described him as 鈥渢he voice of fairness and equity that the state of Israel and the Jewish people have been hoping for at the United Nations for a long, long time.鈥 His remark that the Hamas atrocities of Oct. 7 鈥渄id not happen in a vacuum,鈥 made as he condemned them, provoked anger in Israel. But the government also knew that its all-out assault on聽聽would inevitably bring intense criticism at the U.N. Its attacks on the institution, and the man who represents it, have sought to undercut and delegitimize the censure.
They are also a sign of the times. The U.N. is now a beleaguered institution, stuck on the sidelines of recent major conflicts. The security council has repeatedly been deadlocked, with the U.S., the U.K. and France on one side and Russia and China on the other. Western leaders have wrung their hands about this weakness and paralysis contributing to the decline of the rules-based international order. They must confront any attempt to further undermine it.
The U.N. security council has rightly issued a collective statement backing Guterres. UNRWA too must be supported. The widespread condemnation of attacks on U.N. peacekeepers is also vital. Israel鈥檚 attacks are increasing its聽, even聽, one of its staunchest European allies, which is among those supplying the U.N. troops. Spain and Ireland have urged other E.U. members to聽聽with Israel over its actions in Gaza and Lebanon. Spain and France have called for countries to stop supplying arms to Israel.
.The U.S. is likely to regret allowing further weakening of the U.N. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his colleagues鈥 refusal to respect it makes it all the more important that others do so, and do so vocally.